Abhanga 1834

Since one reality plays every role, thief, victim, and house alike, the anxious hunt for who wronged whom ultimately has no separate answer.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Advaita-theft-paradox abhang. One of the gatha's most-philosophically-elegant theft-paradox abhangs.

The opening: dēvāce gharī dēvē kēlē cōrī — dēvē deva nāgavūni kēlā bhikārī — in deva's house, deva did the theft — deva, stripping deva, made him a beggar. The complete drama happens-within-deva-itself: the house belongs-to-deva, the thief is-deva, the victim is-deva, the resulting-beggar is-deva. (= advaita-statement: there-is-only-one-substance and-it plays-all-the-roles.)

The runner-line: dhāmvaṇiyām dhāmvā dhāmvaṇiyām dhāmvā — māga chi nāhīm jāvē kavaṇiyā gāva — runners run, runners run — no path-trace to (know) where to go, to which village. The pursuit-is-pointless: runners-run-and-run, but-there's-no-trail to-follow, no-village to-go-to (= the thief-vanished-into-the-only-substance, leaving no track).

The chance-line: savē chi hōtā cōra gharaciyā gharī — phāvaliyāvarī kēlē avaghē vāṭōḷē — the thief was right with us in our own house — once given a chance, made everything a wreck. Vāṭōḷē = a wreck, a heap of debris. The thief-was-the-housemate; once-given-the-chance, he-wrecked-everything.

The closing-resolution: Tukā mhaṇē yēthē kōṇī chi nāhīm — nāgavalē kōṇa gēlē kōṇāce kāīm — Tuka says: here, no one (at all) — who was robbed, who went, what was whose?. Pure-advaita-conclusion: if everything-is-deva, then there's no-one-here as a separate-individual; the questions who-was-robbed, who-went, what-was-whose all-dissolve.

This abhang is one of Tuka's most-elegant philosophical-paradoxes — using the theft-image to articulate the advaita-position that all-roles are played-by-one-substance, leaving no second-party for the moral-or-theological-accounting. Pairs with 1801, 1823 as Vārkarī-compressed-advaita abhangs.

[T]

For someone today

For today: in deva's house, deva did the theft — deva stripping deva made him a beggar; runners run, runners run — no path-trace to know where to go, to which village?; the thief was right with us in our own house — once given a chance, made everything a wreck; Tuka says — here, no one (at all) — who was robbed, who went, what was whose?.

Where this applies

• When someone close to you betrays your trust and you can't stop replaying who did what to whom
• When you're consumed by trying to assign blame after a loss or a wrong done to you
• When you feel robbed of something and keep searching for who is responsible
• When grief or anger over a betrayal won't let you rest

Related verses

• Abhanga 4555 — A true encounter with God proves that plain, steady closeness to him outweighs any amount
• Abhanga 4532 — The Lord embraces everyone without asking their status, and the devotion of his devotees p
• Abhanga 4562 — Total absorption, even one that begins in hostility, can dissolve a person's sense of sepa
• Abhanga 4563 — Any trace of separateness left in the mind, even the thought I have become one with God, k